1. Field of the Invention
The present invention, in general, relates to belt buckles and, more particularly, to a belt buckle that includes a compartment.
Belt buckles are well known devices used for fastening a belt, such as is used to retain trousers in position.
There has been a long-standing need to carry a valid picture identification, such as a driver's license, and credit card(s) (or debit card(s), etc.) at most times when a person is away from home. The credit or debit cards are used for purchases and the picture identification is used to verify the identity of the person and also that the age of the person is above whatever minimum threshold may be applicable.
There has also been a long-standing need not to lose the picture identification or the credit card. Loss of identification or credit/debit cards can occur as a result of misplacement of a wallet or having it fall out of a pocket, as when sitting in a chair and inclining the hips rearward. Loss can also occur by theft, including theft by pickpockets.
A wallet creates a bulge in the pocket of trousers. The bulge is aesthetically unappealing. Worse yet, it provides a clear and easy signal to any nearby pickpocket of its presence. Pickpockets (those who have skill in removing [i.e., stealing] items out of pockets) find that stealing a wallet out of a pocket is a fairly easy task to accomplish.
While various wallet designs have been provided, there has remained a longstanding need to provide an effective way of carrying proper personal identification and/or credit/debit cards that provides a secure means for retaining the personal identification and credit cards and which is also unobtrusive.
Ideally, a bystander or would-be-pickpocket would not even know that the user was carrying any form of personal identification or any credit/debit cards. Additionally, it would also be preferable if any device that was used to carry the personal identification and/or credit/debit cards was also capable of sufficiently hindering the efforts of any pickpocket who was astute-enough to recognize such a device to the point where the pickpocket would not even attempt to gain access to the contents of the device.
If the device served another function not commonly associated with the transport of personal identification or credit/debit cards that would be better still, as the device would be perceived by the general population as something other than a carrier of one's personal identification and/or credit/debit cards. By serving a dual function, the need for a separate device to carry the personal identification and/or credit/debit cards would also be eliminated. The user of such a device would then have one fewer thing to keep track of, remember to take, not lose, and transport. Also, without the presence of a wallet in their pants the appearance of the user would be improved.
Additionally, similar needs also apply to women as they, too, must be able to present adequate personal identification when required and to use credit and/or debit cards when necessary. As a result women often opt to carry purses or handbags of all sizes and shapes which they are, at times, apt to forget and possibly leave behind. For example when dining at a restaurant, a purse or handbag placed on the floor or on an empty chair can be easily overlooked and left behind.
Also, purses and handbags are notoriously easy targets for pickpockets as well as for a class of thieves whose modus operandi includes their approach toward a woman that has been targeted, the grabbing of her purse or handbag, the application of force to remove it from her possession, and then quickly departing with the woman's purse or handbag. If a woman is carrying a purse or handbag she is subject to the actions of pickpockets or thieves.
Additionally, there are also times when a woman cannot practically attend to her purse or handbag. For example, when she is on the floor dancing at a club it may not be practical for her to be carrying her purse or handbag while she is dancing.
Accordingly, the needs of women would be similarly served by a device as described above.
Belt buckles have been modified to include enlarged rigid compartments into which an item or items, such as a picture identification and credit card may be placed. This permits the person to not have to carry a wallet, which can be left behind in a more secure location such as at home or hidden in a locked automobile.
However, these prior-art types of belt buckles include a thick rigid compartment that makes the belt buckle thick and unappealing. This also alerts pickpockets of its presence.
Additionally, the prior art belt buckles with compartments either include an open top for the compartment that makes access to the picture identification and credit card (or whatever else may be carried therein) easy for a pickpocket to remove. Having a top that can inadvertently open also creates a potential adverse situation whereby gravity can cause these items to fall out of the belt buckle compartment and become lost when the person bends sufficiently far forward for any reason, such as to pick up something of off the floor or reach for item on a surface a couple of feet beyond where they are standing. The person may not even be aware that anything has fallen, especially if there is a sufficient amount of background noise.
Accordingly, there is a longstanding need for a device that is able to positively retain a user's personal identification and/or credit/debit card(s).
Other prior art types of belt buckles that include a compartment require either total or partial removal of the belt from the trousers in order to open the compartment. This is not practical, as it takes excessive time to accomplish and also because the person attempting to access the compartment may appear somewhat odd to those observing his (or her) actions. This can embarrass the user and deter use of such a product.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a device that can effectively retain a user's personal identification and/or credit/debit card(s) while still providing reasonable and convenient access to the user when removal of the card(s) is warranted. Ideally, removal of any card(s) from the device would require contact with the user's body in such a way, for example by requiring contact with sensitive areas of the body or areas that others do not normally make contact with in public, that any attempt at theft (such as by a pickpocket) would be readily detectable by the user. This would deter such attempts.
Certain prior art types of belt buckles that include a compartment also tend to be especially large and heavy. They are large because the face of the buckle has to hide the compartment and, accordingly, prior art buckles that include any sort of a compartment have been made considerably larger than the size of one's driver's license or credit card.
And additionally, it is not possible to change the face of any of these prior art types of belt buckles with a compartment attached thereto. Each prior art device has a uniquely designed compartment and a matching face plate. This prevents mass production of parts which, in turn, increases price and deters use.
Also, prior art types of belt buckles with compartments tend to be linear, straight devices that provide a linear compartment. However, an ideal shape for a belt buckle is curved so that it matches the general anatomical shape of the wearer.
Additionally, a curved belt buckle is aesthetically more pleasing than is a straight type (i.e., one that is not curved) of a belt buckle.
Furthermore, for any given thickness of belt buckle, with or without a compartment, a straight (linear) belt buckle protrudes further out from a wearer's torso than does a curved belt buckle. This is unattractive and, if a compartment is included, makes the belt buckle stand out as being one of the type that could, perhaps, include a compartment attached thereto.
An especially large linear buckle provides an easy visual queue to a potential pickpocket alerting the pickpocket that the belt buckle is of the type that probably contains a credit card and/or some valuable form of picture identification.
Also, prior art types of belt buckles that include a compartment are generally difficult and expensive to manufacture, and they rely upon unorthodox and sometimes difficult to use fastening mechanisms.
It is desirable to provide an especially thin belt buckle that can also house, at a minimum, a valid picture identification card and, ideally, at least one credit or debit card. It is also desirable to be able to contain more than two cards, if desired. For example, a three card capacity can provide sufficient storage to meet most people's card-carrying needs by providing space for the identification and two credit/debit cards. However, to provide a thin and inconspicuous yet solid and secure device that can hold three cards has been heretobefore unattainable. Similarly, to provide a thin and inconspicuous solid device that can secure four or perhaps even more cards has also been unattainable.
Accordingly, there exists today a need for a belt buckle that helps to ameliorate the above-mentioned problems and difficulties as well as ameliorate those additional problems and difficulties as may be recited in the “OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION” or discussed elsewhere in the specification or which may otherwise exist or occur and that are not specifically mentioned herein.
As various embodiments of the instant invention help provide a more elegant solution to the various problems and difficulties as mentioned herein, or which may otherwise exist or occur and are not specifically mentioned herein, and by a showing that a similar benefit is not available by mere reliance upon the teachings of relevant prior art, the instant invention attests to its novelty. Therefore, by helping to provide a more elegant solution to various needs, some of which may be long-standing in nature, the instant invention further attests that the elements thereof, in combination as claimed, cannot be obvious in light of the teachings of the prior art to a person of ordinary creativity.
Clearly, such an apparatus would be especially useful and desirable.
2. Description of Prior Art
Belt buckles are, in general, known. For example, the following patents describe various types of these devices:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,836 to DuBois, that issued on Jul. 20, 1976;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,157 to Woodbury, that issued on Sep. 12, 1978;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,502,188 to Kohli, that issued on Mar. 5, 1985;
U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,638 to Mayzel, that issued on Oct. 25, 1994; and
U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,890 to Wanner, that issued on Nov. 18, 1997.
Also, a prior art belt buckle that includes a metal compartment at a rear inner surface of the buckle and which includes a front surface (i.e., a face) that resembles a flag with a skull and cross-bones image thereon is available for sale at website www.viciousstyle.com.
While the structural arrangements of the above described devices may, at first appearance, have similarities with the present invention, they differ in material respects. These differences, which will be described in more detail hereinafter, are essential for the effective use of the invention and which admit of the advantages that are not available with the prior devices.